Performance analysis of diesel engine heat pump incorporated with heat recovery

This paper presents experimental study of diesel engine heat pump (DEHP) system to find potential as retrofit technology in off-gas or weak electricity network area to replace existing gas/oil/electric heating system in domestic sector. Test set-up of diesel engine driven water-to-water heat pump system was built which included heat recovery arrangement from the engine coolant & exhaust gas. The system was designed to meet typical house heating demand in Northern Ireland. Performance of DEHP was evaluated to meet house-heating demand at different flow temperature (35, 45, 55 & 65 °C), a typical requirement of underfloor space heating, medium/high temperature radiators and domestic hot water. The performance was evaluated against four-evaporator water inlet temperature (0, 5, 10 & 15 °C) and at three different engine speed 1600, 2000 & 2400 rpm. Experiment results were analysed in terms of heating/cooling capacity, heat recovery, total heat output, primary energy ratio (PER), isentropic efficiency, etc. Test results showed that DEHP is able to meet house-heating demand with help of heat recovery with reduced system size. Heat recovery contributed in a range of 22-39% in total heat output. It is possible to achieve high flow temperature in a range of 74 °C with help of heat recovery. Overall system PER varied in a range of 0.93-1.33. Speed increment and flow temperature has significant impact on heat recovery, total heat output and PER. A case scenario with different flow temperature to match house-heating demand has been presented to show working potential with different heat distribution system. In addition, DEHP shows good potential to save primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions, a helpful technology to achieve national emission reduction target.